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The Review of Policy Research recently published three special issues on policy process research in China, artificial intelligence, and climate policies. The current issue focuses on perception and performance in environmental policy, examining how policy actors and the public perceive policy making and the conditions for achieving environmental policy objectives. The articles cover various topics, including emotions in policy conflicts, coalition formation, public communication strategies, public support for climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, coordination of the energy transition, policy analytical capacity, performance measurement in water pollution remediation, and campaign-style enforcement in environmental governance. The research provides valuable insights into environmental policy and offers opportunities for interdisciplinary research. [Extracted from the article]

On the island of Guåhan (Guam) native and endemic species are an integral part of the CHamoru language, rituals, and practices. They are interconnected with their culture and honored together with the ocean, the land, and their ancestors. Presently, this spiritual connection is being jeopardized as military expansion threatens the sacred lands of Tailalo' and Litekyan. Phylogenetic and ethnographic research, connected to the principles of environmental justice, has brought attention to the social movement to protect the last håyun lågu tree (Serianthes nelsonii) at Tailalo'. This opinion piece is a rallying cry to safeguard the last håyun lågu and to confront the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act and the U.S. Endangered Species Act, as its regulations do not mirror the island's social and cultural system and fail to incorporate Indigenous and scientific perspectives to protect Indigenous biocultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expands the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) by employing an exploratory case study approach to examine the construction of narratives temporally. A large‐N Twitter dataset concerning the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase‐Escalante monuments controversy is utilized to examine the question: how does the use of narrative strategies change over time? Through the application of change‐point analysis, we determine time points of significant shifts towards use of the devil‐angel shift, scope of the conflict, and causal mechanism strategies. Overall, we find that organizations do not vary their use of narrative strategies over the course of a policy conflict but instead demonstrate discrete changes in response to certain policy events. Based on our findings, we conclude with suggestions for refining and expanding NPF hypotheses. Specifically, we recommend a more contextual analysis of shifts in narrative strategy use in response to specific events over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy scholars have increasingly focused on collaborative and competitive relationships between stakeholder coalitions. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) in particular has directed scholarly attention toward such relationships. The ACF defines advocacy coalitions as groups of actors who share beliefs and coordinate their action. However, previous research has been inconsistent in defining and measuring coalitions, which has hampered comparative research and theory building. We present a method called the Advocacy Coalition Index, which measures belief similarity and the coordination of action in a manner that makes it possible to assess the extent to which advocacy coalitions are found in policy subsystems, whether subgroups resemble coalitions, and how individual actors contribute to coalition formation. The index provides a standardized method for identifying coalitions that can be applied to comparative research. To illustrate the effectiveness of the index, we analyze two climate change policy subsystems, namely Finland and Sweden, which have been shown to differ in terms of the association of belief similarity with coordination. We demonstrate that the index performs well in identifying the different types of subsystems, coalitions, and actors that contribute the most to coalition formation, as well as those involved in cross‐coalition brokerage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ideas about how narratives focus attention, this paper develops a "narrative policy image" using the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Narrative Policy Framework explanations of the policy process. The concept of a narrative policy image is applied to test partisan expectations about presidential environmental policy stories in State of the Union Addresses over 73 years. This research finds that Democratic stories focus on problems like climate change and victims and Republican stories emphasize solutions like new programs and upholding the status quo. These trends point to potential story types and suggest a narrative policy image, including both narrative components and valence, may be a useful concept for understanding narrative attention in macropolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate change continues to increase both the frequency and intensity of environmental hazards and disasters, the need for a cohesive national mitigation policy grows. As the environmental federalism scholarship indicates, the inherent tension in federal, state, and local policy implementation highlights that despite a national need, environmental quality is a local public good. To complicate matters, there is disagreement about the optimal level of decision‐making regarding the adoption and implementation of environmental policy. This study addresses this gap by considering the role of policy ambiguity and conflict in policy implementation. The analysis relies on primary qualitative data collected from open‐ended interviews with 22 local government officials in 12 municipalities following Hurricane Harvey. Through the lens of policy ambiguity and conflict, we find confirmatory support for the idea that policies with less ambiguous goals are more likely to be implemented. Furthermore, we find that policy conflict arises when local governments perceive there is little for the community to gain by implementing the federal program. Thus, the level of protection afforded to citizens varies greatly between communities and is influenced heavily by politics. This research supports the Ambiguity‐Conflict Model of policy implementation, an oft‐cited but rarely tested theoretical framework for assessing the intergovernmental politics of policy implementation. It also demonstrates the barriers to local implementation of federal environmental policy in a nested system of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for answers to global policy changes has engaged many a policy researcher's agenda. This has led to the adoption and application of various theoretical perspectives in a bid to explain the complex policy change process for better understanding. However, the highly contested reasons for policy change underpinned by context‐specific variables in the extant literature demand more empirically supported studies. This article responds by adopting the multiple streams framework (MSF) to explain and deepen understanding of why policies change in a developing African country, specifically Ghana, with the forest and wildlife policy (FWP) as a case study. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the study empirically supports the MSF assumption that the effective coupling of the three streams of problem, policy, and politics through a window of opportunity was crucial in Ghana's FWP change in 2012. This study attempts to balance practice and theory. Related Articles: Brant, Hanna K., Nathan Myers, and Katherine L. Runge. 2017. "Promotion, Protection, and Entrepreneurship: Stakeholder Participation and Policy Change in the 21st Century Cures Initiative." Politics & Policy 45(3): 372–404. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12201. Dunning, Kelly Heber. 2021. "Unlikely Conservation Policy Making in a Polarized Congress: A Multiple Streams Analysis of 'America's Most Successful Conservation Program.'" Politics & Policy 50: 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12448. Tanaka, Yugo, Andrew Chapman, Tetsuo Tezuka, and Shigeki Sakurai. 2020. "Multiple Streams and Power Sector Policy Change: Evidence from the Feed‐in Tariff Policy Process in Japan." Politics & Policy 48(3): 464–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12357. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy forums bring individual actors together to deliberate on specific policy issues. The literature found that actors' perceptions of forum performance depend on both their individual characteristics (goals, expertise, resources) and forum processes (trust, learning, beliefs). However, we do not know how different combinations of actors, embodying different types of knowledge or expertise, relate to forum performance. We distinguish between policy and institutional specialization. Forum participants can be policy specialists, who are experts on the policy issue, and/or institutional specialists, who are expert of the policy process in the governance system. The former excel at problem definition and facilitation; the latter enable inclusivity. We surmise that higher proportions of specialized actors positively affect the group's perceptions of forum performance in terms of both process and outcomes, particularly in high conflict forums. We test this claim using survey data on 55 policy forums working on adaptation to sea level rise in the San Francisco Bay Area, collected in summer 2018. The empirical findings lend support to our hypothesis as concerns policy specialists but not as concerns institutional specialists. Further research should devote more effort to study how actor composition affects forum performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of unprecedented ecological crises, a consensus has been consolidated in the global community to fundamentally alter current modes of economic growth and patterns of resource allocation, in pursuit of a low‐carbon transition. Environmental governance plays an important instrumental role in this global agenda. The policy mix framework has emerged as a holistic approach to the design and analysis of environmental policies. A policy mix encompasses different dimensions, featuring not only the horizontality but also the verticality and temporality of interactions. Nevertheless, existing literature on environmental policy mixes focuses on the horizontal interactions, and very few studies have systematically explored the vertical and temporal interactions of policy mixes. Drawing upon the case of agricultural residue recycling in China, this study captures the evolution of both the narrative temporality and the verticality of environmental policy mixes. More importantly, the changing political narratives around residue recycling exert an intangible but significant influence on the vertical interactions between multilevel governments in both policy making and policy implementation, in which institutional and organizational arrangements constitute a key operational and mediating mechanism to manage vertical coordination. The study finally proposes three avenues for future research on environmental policy mixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have used the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to explain public opinion on a variety of policy issues and across venues. Recent work in the NPF has expanded the application of the framework beyond textual formats to accommodate policy narratives that are visual in nature. This article asks whether individuals respond differently to visual versus text‐based narratives. The research argues that visuals are more easily understood, dramatic, and memorable than text, suggesting that visual narratives may have a greater influence on policy attitudes. I explore these possibilities using Twitter narratives related to the Dakota Access Pipeline in the United States. Exposure to visual narratives significantly increased perception of issue importance, but contrary to expectations, visual narratives were no more effective at enhancing information recall, shifting attitudes, and encouraging activism than textual narratives. The article discusses possible reasons for these findings, the implications for narrative persuasion, and suggestions for future avenues of research. Related Articles: Chang, Katherine T., and Elizabeth A. Koebele. 2020. "What Drives Coalitions' Narrative Strategy? Exploring Policy Narratives around School Choice." Politics & Policy 48(4): 618–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12367. Crow, Deserai A., Lydia A. Lawhon, John Berggren, Juhi Huda, Elizabeth Koebele, and Adrianne Kroepsch. 2017. "A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of Wildfire Policy Discussions in Two Colorado Communities." Politics & Policy 45(4): 626–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12207. Shanahan, Elizabeth A., Mark K. McBeth, and Paul L. Hathaway. 2011. "Narrative Policy Framework: The Influence of Media Policy Narrative on Public Opinion." Politics & Policy 39(3): 373–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2011.00295.x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author furthers research on the multiple streams framework (MSF) by testing hypotheses related to the conditional nature of politics, policy, and problems streams in affecting policy outputs from both policymaking and policy implementation. The author articulates a theoretical model of the policy process where policymaking and policy implementation are separate, but interdependent processes, and generates three hypotheses related to policymaking, policy implementation, and the interdependence of those processes. Then, the author tests hypotheses with state‐level implementation of federal environmental policy over a 20 year period. Using seemingly unrelated regression (SUR), the author makes joint estimations of policymaking and policy implementation as separate, correlated processes. Findings indicate how politics affects policymaking and policy implementation is conditional on existing policies and problems, and that these two processes are not independent from each other. Conclusions connect this MSF to the broader literature and how it may address current criticisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is both the theoretical advancement and the application of policy process theories and public policy perspectives on science, technology, and environmental policy and related fields, such as health and agricultural policy. Moyson et al. (2022) cross-fertilize the ACF with the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to ascribe an advocacy coalition's successful translation of beliefs into policy to the use of an overly present and simple frame. The last two articles of this issue study the role of administration in environmental policy implementation, more specifically the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). [Extracted from the article]

Questions: What is the potential use of maps derived from a merged geographical and phytosociological approach to support the design of public environmental policies? Do these approaches and data sources deliver complementary land‐cover/vegetation maps? Objective: The present article documents a joint phytosociological and geographical approach to improve vegetation cartography in temperate‐tropical transitional ecosystems. Location: The research was conducted at national (Mexico) and state (Michoacán) scales. Mexico and Michoacán have been recognized as regions of high eco‐geographical complexity, where temperate‐tropical conditions intermingle, creating large eco‐socio‐cultural mosaics. Methods: Data from 268 field verification sites and 223 relevés surveyed during the last two decades and recent land cover sources were used as the main inputs. The results were further validated by three workshops with local botanists and field verification during 2021. Results: At the national level, Mexico's forests, shrubs, herbs, and non‐vascular major formation classes were hierarchically split by dominant life forms and prevailing climatic affiliations. At the state level, these major formation classes split into 19 sub‐formations, of which 15 were forest communities. Conclusions: We discuss the scientific challenge of transitioning from land cover into vegetation maps and (dis)similarities of approaches reviewing concepts and analytical (quanti)qualitative instruments. The paper contrasts the present output with the experiences of other countries such as Canada, the United States, Bolivia, and Colombia. Finally, the results are discussed in light of their relevance for constructing public environmental policies, such as land use planning, establishment of protected areas, allocation of incentives for sustainable environmental services, and long‐term conservation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has been a dynamic one for biodiversity offsetting policy. Efforts to incorporate offsetting into the Convention on Biological Diversity as a compliance mechanism did not succeed. The expansion of offsetting outside of the Natura 2000 network in the European Union (EU), which looked all but inevitable in the early 2010s, was withdrawn in the face of unexpectedly strong opposition from environmental groups and the business sector. Highly publicised offsetting programmes in some EU countries have had mixed outcomes, and many observers describe offsetting as a failed policy. And yet four years of interviews and policy analysis in Brussels, Spain, and England suggest that reports of offsetting's death may be exaggerated. While the possibility of an overarching EU Directive aimed at harmonising offsetting policy and practice across the region's countries seems unlikely, in Spain, offsetting has returned to the national policy arena via adoption as an implementation tool within the national Green Infrastructure Strategy. Offsetting in England persists in a handful of counties as a locally situated development strategy, and seems to have returned at the national level despite its spectacular flame‐out in 2014. This is not, after all, a high‐profile failure of neoliberal environmental policy. Rather, we see offsetting's persistence as a result of policy refugia: the retreat to small but amenable jurisdictions where offsetting policies can wait out inclement policy conditions and then emerge to recolonise the policy landscape when conditions improve. Highly publicised offsetting programmes in some EU countries have had mixed outcomes, and many observers describe offsetting as a failed policy. However, our analysis of offset policy development in the EU, Spain, and England suggests that offsetting has not failed but persists as a result of policy refugia: it has retreated to small but amenable jurisdictions from which it can emerge to recolonise the policy landscape as conditions improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of policy entrepreneurs in promoting change in flood risk mitigation at the local level in Sweden through a comparative study of two Swedish municipalities with different approaches to flood risk governance; as a technical issue or a social issue. The municipality in which flood risk mitigation is addressed as a social issue exhibits a larger size of the network mitigating flood risk, more diverse actors involved, and a more central location of the politicians and senior management. Moreover, the analysis points to the salience of a bureaucratic policy entrepreneur in promoting this shift toward addressing it as a social issue, and shows how they use relational strategies to frame the issue as relating to climate change action. The article operationalizes sociability and credibility, two of the attributes of policy entrepreneurs, and thus, contributes to the theoretical and methodological discussion of policy entrepreneurs in general, and as they pertain to environmental policy in particular. Related Articles: David, Charles‐Philippe. 2015. "Policy Entrepreneurs and the Reorientation of National Security Policy under the G. W. Bush Administration (2001‐04)." Politics & Policy 43 (1): 163‐195. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12106 Shock, David R. 2013. "The Significance of Opposition Entrepreneurs on Local Sales Tax Referendum Outcomes." Politics & Policy 41 (4): 588‐614. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12028 Sidha, Zedekia, Patrick Asingo, and Justine Magutu. 2021. "Street‐Level Bureaucrats as Policy Entrepreneurs: The Nexus between Timing of Traffic Enforcement Activities and Road Safety Policy Outcomes." Politics & Policy Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12386 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framing has long been a central construct in scholarship on the role of rhetoric and discourse in the policy process. Research on policy framing and identity thus far has neglected the role of place‐based identity, focusing instead on identity constructs such as race, class, gender, and ethnicity. Through a mixed methods analysis of transcripts of City Council meetings in Philadelphia from 2007 to 2017, we analyze how policy makers, local interest groups, and national/regional interest groups employ place‐based framing to define, explain, and propose solutions to environmental problems. We contrast local place‐based frames with more abstract global frames that center arguments for policy change on the national or global implications of environmental problems. Our results reveal that place‐based framing is a dominant mode of discourse in Philadelphia environmental policy discussions and that actors may employ frames strategically so as to appeal to place‐based identities and to further political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the number, ideological congruence, and/or individual cohesion of veto actors influence policy making to be incremental or drastic? Rather than compare veto actors across different states as is already extensively addressed, this article compares the different veto actors involved in Australia's 2011 Carbon Tax Policy and its 2014 "Carbon Tax Repeal" policy. It uses quantitative data to measure the number, ideological congruence, and individual cohesion of the different veto actors. The results show that, because of the smaller number of veto actors, their higher ideological congruence, and lower individual cohesion, policy making was rather drastic than incremental for the 2014 repeal policy compared to the 2011 Carbon Tax Policy. The results, however, challenge the assumption that many veto actors hinder effective policy change and suggest that because a single or few veto actors can easily execute drastic policy making, they can likewise easily halt effective policy. These have implications for policy making. Related Articles: Båtstrand, Sondre. 2015. "More than Markets: A Comparative Study of Nine Conservative Parties on Climate Change." Politics & Policy 43 (4): 538‐561. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12122 Fisher, Sarah. 2015. "Federalism's Fractured Decision Making in the Kyoto Protocol." Politics & Policy 43 (1): 1‐29. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12110 Kwon, Sung‐Wook, and Sylvia Gonzalez‐Gorman. 2019. "Influence of Local Political Institutions on Policy Punctuation in Three Policy Areas." Politics & Policy 47 (2): 300‐325. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12295 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To guide clinicians, a trial was undertaken in nearly 50 maternity units in the UK where women presenting with pre-eclampsia during this critical gestational window were allocated to immediate delivery or conservative therapy, and both maternal and fetal/neonatal outcomes were monitored (Chappell et al. I Lancet i 2019;394:1181-90). When people live healthily, no one applauds; if illnesses are avoided, no one applauds; but everyone should applaud the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI). GAVI's costs are shared by the governments of the countries within which they work who must eventually transition to independence from GAVI. 15 of the world's poorest countries have successfully moved from GAVI to their own vaccination financial planning. [Extracted from the article]

The past explanations of Malaysia's policy responses to China's assertiveness in the South China Sea centered on systemic, economic, and ideational factors. I adopt a different approach by looking into the decision‐making process of Malaysia's China policy during Najib Razak's administration (2009–2018). I explain that the China policy decision‐making process under Najib was divided into two channels, one focusing on nonsecurity matters and the other on security matters, with the prime minister seated at the top of the two channels, while there were very little interactions between the two channels. These characteristics could partially explain the nature and outcome of Malaysia's South China Sea policy posture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) interpretations on the normativity of the Water Framework Directive's (WFD) environmental objectives and derogation for new, important activities clarified certain long‐standing discussions on these matters in the Nordic countries. The WFD's legal narrative formally changed from a planning framework for gradual improvement of water quality in the European Union to one of legally binding character for the environmental objectives. This simultaneously increased the interest for the circumstances under which a derogation from the environmental objectives is applicable for certain new activities. Both of these matters are integrally connected to the authorization of activities under national environmental permitting legislation. This article explores how and to what extent the WFD's environmental objectives are given legal effect in national environmental permitting in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Although the Nordic countries have chosen different approaches when implementing the WFD, they have all largely kept these legal frameworks separate; legislation establishing a system of river basin management planning pursuant to the WFD on the one hand, and environmental permitting legislation on the other. The article points out certain crucial questions on the reconciliation of these legal frameworks and the development of national legislation as triggered by the CJEU case law. Regarding the provisions implementing the possibility to derogate for new and important activities, the article discusses certain lacking and flawed legal linkages between river basin management planning and environmental permitting in the three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that English drought management rests on two imaginaries of hydrocitizenship: an economic/instrumental imaginary that frames people primarily as "customers," and an imaginary that focuses more on the affectively charged, personal engagements between individuals and "hydrosocial" spaces. These imaginaries, we contend, roughly correspond with the two modalities of a form of governance referred to by Michel Foucault as biopower: biopolitics and discipline. Drawing on fieldwork conducted as part of a large interdisciplinary research project on drought in the UK, we sketch the contours of English drought management, exploring in particular the "macro‐scale" elements of drought management (the biopolitical modality), premised on computer simulation modelling, and the elements of drought management that focus on the level of individual people (the disciplinary modality), premised in part on the work of local environmental organisations. The difference between the two notions of hydrocitizenship informing these two modalities of management, we conclude, produces tensions that potentially undermine water governance as it is currently organised in the UK. Ultimately, our goal in the paper is not solely to expose or critique existing governance efforts or the power relations therein, but rather to examine the interplay of governmentalities that constitute drought management in order to illuminate and expand the potential for "being governed differently." In this paper we argue that English drought management rests on two imaginaries of hydrocitizenship, which correspond with the two modalities of a form of governance referred to by Michel Foucault as biopower: biopolitics and discipline. Drawing on fieldwork conducted as part of a large interdisciplinary research project on drought in the UK, we explore the "macro‐scale" elements of drought management (the biopolitical modality), premised on computer simulation modelling, and the elements of drought management that focus on the level of individual people (the disciplinary modality), premised in part on the work of local environmental organisations. The difference between the two notions of hydrocitizenship informing these two modalities of management, we conclude, produces tensions that potentially undermine water governance as it is currently organised in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy scholars have effectively leveraged policy process models, theories, and frameworks to respond to a variety of important environmental questions. For example, how do environmental issues arrive on the agendas of policymakers? What factors contribute to environmental policy change? What are the designs and effects of institutions (e.g., policies or cultural norms) on environmental governance? In this review, we survey the field of policy process scholarship, focusing on environmental governance, with three objectives. The first objective is to catalog the policy process models, theories, and frameworks most often featured in studies of environmental governance. The second is to capture the methodological choices commonly employed in the application of these models, theories, and frameworks in environmental domains. The third is to identify how these approaches deal with issues central to environmental governance research, including time, space, and policy scale. We aim to identify trends and strategies for integrating key considerations of scale into empirical policy process scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst congressional gridlock, administrative rulemaking is the main pathway for environmental policy making. Scholars have assessed the role of the institutions of government (the president, Congress, and the courts) and key interest groups (i.e., business and environmental interests) in shaping rulemaking outcomes. What is missing from this literature is an assessment of the role of key implementers, state environmental agencies. This research fills this gap by assessing the role and impact of state government agencies in three case studies of rulemaking at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Based on original interviews and a public comment analysis, this research suggests that state agencies play an active and influential role in EPA rulemaking. And, in some cases, state agencies wield more influence than other interest groups. Interviewees argued that this influence stems from these agencies' unique voice as an implementation collaborator. As a result, researchers should incorporate an assessment of the role of these interests to more effectively explain regulatory outcomes at the EPA and potentially across the bureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We propose that words can be an object of systematic study in the field of economics and outline an approach to the study of word choice in behavioral economics. We consider words as strategic instruments of influence and review how they can impact behaviors in several subtle and distinctive ways, namely through their capacity to elicit affect, support identity and social belonging, evoke linguistic associations, and generate bias arising from variations in fluency. We provide a variety of examples to illustrate the behavioral impacts of words through these mechanisms and provide practical recommendations regarding how words can be harnessed by policymakers to reach socially desirable goals through a consideration of how word‐related behavioral anomalies shape incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the landscape of state‐level adaptation planning in the United States. We answer three primary research questions: First, how are states planning for climate change? Second, who are states targeting for climate adaptation? Third, what tools are states using to motivate climate adaptation efforts? We develop and implement a coding scheme using Schneider and Ingram’s Social Construction Framework (SCF) to characterize variation in 2033 individual adaptation goals mentioned in all 14 American states with explicit adaptation plans. We use these data to understand the types of tools used to motivate different actors (governmental, private, nonprofit) to adapt to climate change. We find that the most frequent target of state adaptation planning is the state itself, which provides an opportunity to extend the SCF to a target group often not mentioned in public policy. Specifically, we find that states target themselves with mandates or tools designed to acquire information. Other stakeholders in adaptation are more likely to be the targets of capacity building tools. Private actors are the only population more likely to be targeted by incentives. The project expands the Social Construction Framework to include targets and tools of planning efforts. Practically, our article offers a methodology by which to compare the vastly heterogeneous efforts to adapt to climate change at the subnational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To what extent does the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) apply to local policy issues? The scholarship developing the NPF as a theoretical framework has focused on national, state, or regional policy problems with very little attention to local ones. This article contributes to the literature on policy narratives, finding that the use of narrative elements by coalitions is more nuanced in highly localized policy settings than the current theory suggests. In particular, the depiction of characters and assignment of blame differs more in local settings than the NPF would indicate. Hypotheses about key narrative elements of characters, causal mechanisms, narrative story type, and policy solutions are tested using data from a content analysis of 202 policy narratives about the residential water shutoffs in Detroit during 2014. Findings support the use of the NPF for local policy issues and the importance of depicting characters as beneficiaries rather than villains or victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The concept of learning has long played a central role in the theories and frameworks used to understand policy processes. Findings described here aim to contribute to the theoretical and methodological understanding of individual learning in the policy process by explicitly examining belief change and belief reinforcement as products of policy learning, measuring both, as well as measuring the absence of either. The objective of this study is to use the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework to examine some of the factors that promote and shape policy learning, including policy actors' beliefs and the extent to which policy actors engage in various policy activities within and between belief coalitions. The results indicate that extreme beliefs are associated with belief reinforcement, relative to policy actors with more moderate beliefs, and that collaboration with individuals with differing policy views is associated with belief change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the motivations and activities of some bureaucratic agencies and their managers in the systematic derailing of the decision to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and privatize some of its subsidiaries. The study applies the bureaucratic politics model to explain implementation politics as it relates to inter‐agency interests. I find that key officials of bureaucratic agencies in the petroleum sector have worked to enhance their various agencies' sphere of influence and maintain critical tasks, thereby derailing and delaying institutional reforms and reorganization of the petroleum sector in line with the liberalization agenda. The study expands the scope of bureaucratic politics in understanding policy outcomes, contributes to literature on inter‐agency relationships and interests in policy implementation. It suggests consideration of inter‐agency relationships in the design and implementation of policies, the need for clearer definition of agency responsibilities in the establishing law in a developing country environment. Related Articles: Lamb, Charles M., and Eric M. Wilk. 2009. “ Presidents, Bureaucracy, and Housing Discrimination Policy: The Fair Housing Acts of 1968 and 1988.” Politics & Policy 37 ( 1): 127‐ 149. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00164.x/full Dahill‐Brown, Sara E., and Lesley Lavery. 2012. “ Implementing Federal Policy: Confronting State Capacity and Will.” Politics & Policy 40 ( 4): 557‐ 592. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00368.x/full Khodr, Hiba, and Isabella Ruble. 2013. “ Energy Policies and Domestic Politics in the MENA Region in the Aftermath of the Arab Upheavals: The Cases of Lebanon, Libya, and KSA.” Politics & Policy 41 ( 5): 656‐ 689. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12033/full Related Media: Center for Strategic & International Studies. 2015. “Nigeria's Oil Sector: Improving Governance and Addressing Corruption.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAu1XOaHcCM Eboh, Michael. 2016. “ Petroleum Industry: All Motion, No Progress.” Vanguard. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/petroleum-industry-motion-no-progress/ Nuhu‐Koko, Abubakar A. 2007. “The Restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC): Some Pertinent Observations.” http://www.gamji.com/article6000/NEWS7380.htm [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulrich Beck characterized the transition from modern to late modern society as a shift from an industrial to a 'risk society.' Contemporary society is challenged by negative side effects ('risks') of modernization, including the increasing and imminent threat of global climate change. This article will test the validity of conceivable prescriptive elements associated with this sociological theory. In doing so, it will focus on the most recent legal developments aimed at tackling climate change within the EU. This paper finds that the precautionary approach is unable to sufficiently shape balanced legal intervention in this day and age. However, the approach adopted by the EU appears to be more successful in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York municipalities passed more than 60 measures promoting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), 2008-12. These policies and resolutions signaled to state officials that municipalities desired HVHF's promised economic benefits and were anxious for an end to the state's HVHF moratorium. They also may be evidence of municipalities proactively preparing for a drilling boom. Why did some jurisdictions adopt these measures while others did not? While scholarship suggests that policy adoption is facilitated when jurisdictions and citizens possess more resources, capacity appears to have a negative or negligible impact on pro-HVHF action. Such action appears more likely when local actors anticipate HVHF's potential gains but have not previously experienced substantial drilling, perceive that the industry could be viable locally, and can access relevant policy examples. Some lessons from conventional adoption scholarship may not apply when policies are symbolic, advocacy may be elite-driven, and mimicry is an important diffusion mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005, the Ontario government passed the Places to Grow Act and the Greenbelt Act, both major changes in land use policy designed to preserve greenspaces and combat urban sprawl in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Canada's largest conurbation. This article examines the actors, actor beliefs, and inter-actor alliances in the southern Ontario land use policy subsystem from the perspective of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). Specifically, this paper undertakes an empirical examination of the ACF's Belief Homophily Hypothesis, which holds that inter-actor alliances form on the basis of shared policy-relevant beliefs, creating advocacy coalitions. The analysis finds strong evidence of three advocacy coalitions in the policy subsystem-an agricultural coalition, an environmentalist coalition, and a developers' coalition-as predicted by the hypothesis. However, it also finds equally strong evidence of a cross-coalition coordination network of peak organizations, something not predicted by the Belief Homophily Hypothesis, and in need of explanation within the ACF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN's globally adopted Convention on Biological Diversity coverage target for marine protected areas (MPAs) is ≥10% by 2020. In 2014, the World Parks Congress recommended increasing this to ≥30%. We reviewed 144 studies to assess whether the UN target is adequate to achieve, maximize, or optimize six environmental and/or socioeconomic objectives. Results consistently indicate that protecting several tens-of-percent of the sea is required to meet goals (average 37%, median 35%, modal group 21-30%), greatly exceeding the 2.18% currently protected and the 10% target. The objectives we examined were met in 3% of studies with ≤10% MPA coverage, 44% with ≤30% coverage, and 81% with more than half the sea protected. The UN's 10% target appears insufficient to protect biodiversity, preserve ecosystem services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities. As MPA coverages generated from theoretical studies inherently depend on scenario(s) considered, our findings do not represent explicit recommendations but rather provide perspective on policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies have proven effective at raising consumer awareness, expanding waste collection infrastructure, and shifting costs of end-of-life (EOL) management from municipalities to stewardship organizations. Yet, such policies have been less successful in advancing waste management programs that ensure a net environmental benefit. This article analyzes how EPR policies for single-use batteries in the European Union (EU), Canada, and the United States address the environmental costs and benefits of EOL management. Considering these EPR policies is instructive, because single-use batteries have high collection costs and are of relatively low economic value for waste processors. Without deliberate planning, the environmental burdens of collecting and recycling such batteries may exceed the benefits. This article considers how EPR policies for single-use batteries integrate performance requirements such as collection rates, recycling efficiencies, and best available techniques. It argues that for such policies to be effective, they need to be extended to address waste collection practices, the life cycle consequences of EOL management, and the quality of recovered materials. Such strategies are relevant to EPR policies for other products with marginal secondary value, including some textiles, plastics, and other types of electronic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper first develops a model to characterize the equilibrium distribution of polluting and nonpolluting firms and then turns to the larger question of whether the equilibrium distribution is socially optimal. We find that the equilibrium distribution of polluting firms differs from the social optimum when they generate a large amount of stationary pollution and have much higher or lower productivity than clean firms. In these cases, conventional pollution control approaches generally do not bring about an optimal distribution. Consideration of transport costs along with productivity and pollution changes some of the classic results of the new economic geography literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its traditionally strong focus on science and technology policies as well as environmental policies, the I RPR i aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform to explore these policy areas from a public policy perspective. The I RPR i is devoted to the publication of high-class research exploring the politics and policy of science and technology. In their analysis of media debates on fracking policies, Pattison et al. (2021) interlink these phenomena with the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) and therewith contribute to both, the further development of the ACF and the NPF. [Extracted from the article]

American cities vary considerably in the degree to which they pursue sustainability. What explains this variation? One plausible cause of such differences is that sustainability may be more appealing to high-income cities than to more economically challenged cities. Yet such strict economic determinism seems simplistic and removes politics from an inherently political process. The hypothesis here is that any such relationship between income and commitment to sustainability is conditioned by a city's level of environmental advocacy. The data utilized in this analysis are derived from two large-scale data sources. One is a comprehensive inventory of sustainability programs and policies in 50 large American cities. The other is a set of surveys in those same 50 cities. The multivariate model supports the hypothesis. Controlling for income growth and the predisposition of policymakers to be supportive of sustainability (as well as other alternative explanations), a city's commitment to sustainability is strongly linked to the advocacy of environmental and sustainability groups in the policymaking process. The example of Sustainable Seattle is used to illustrate the linkages that would seem to underlie the statistical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the unfolding of integrated water resource management ( IWRM) reforms in southwest Burkina Faso, where water resources are subject to conflicting claims by a diversity of users. We first describe the establishment a local water user committee, showing how choices regarding composition and operations grant varying levels of recognition to different stakeholders. We then discuss the implications for key dimensions of decentralized governance, namely representation and accountability. In particular we focus on: (a) how the interplay of political agendas and policy disconnects shapes the committee's viability and credibility and (b) how tensions between techno-scientific and local knowledge affect participation and transparency. We argue that in contexts defined by contentious politics and neo-patrimonial practices, representativeness is better ensured by the direct inclusion of user groups rather than elected officials. Though limited discretionary power, information access, and technical capabilities of committee members inhibit accountability, rural producers uphold their claims through social mobilization and reliance on local knowledge. Recognizing the opportunities offered by the country's recent democratic turn, we formulate recommendations aimed at addressing structural drivers and enabling citizen agency in decentralized water governance. At the same time, further research is needed on local people's understandings of representation and accountability, to ensure that they are involved in institutional design and practices in ways that affirm what they value and what they know. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amenity is a term that has re-emerged within both public policy and environmental management organisations in response to an increasing emphasis on the human benefits derived from ecosystems. However, practical implementation of amenity management has been difficult due to a lack of definitional clarity within operational and academic literature. This article discusses the need for definitional clarity and understanding of the component elements of amenity that are integral to ecological management and reviews the literature on the perceptions and definitions of amenity in varied contexts. This study argues that positive perceptions of amenity benefits of a place are influenced by both physical elements such as sight, sound and smell and social elements such as age, education and cultural values. These elements should be considered by management agencies in a structured manner in order for the full potential of amenity to be realised. We present a conceptual framework to provide definitional clarity to the concept of amenity and highlight the interactions among its constituent elements. For the management of human-dominated landscapes, considering the relationship between amenity and biodiversity may improve the integration of ecological and social goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, communities have begun to implement both 'soft' and mandatory policies designed to address worsening air quality. Voluntary or soft transportation policies have included air quality alert systems that encourage people not to drive on days when the air quality index is above a specified threshold and public education/action campaigns that focus on reducing automobile related travel. In this article, we evaluate the effectiveness of one such soft policy, the Clear the Air Challenge (CAC), in reducing ground-level ozone during the Wasatch Front's summer ozone season. Using daily ozone data and color-coded daily air quality designations from 2006 through 2012, we estimate a range of nonequivalent control group models. In only one of the models does the CAC generate a statistically significant but small reduction in ground-level ozone. Future research should assess the full range of costs and benefits to the public associated with such soft transport policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the definition of success in First Nations drinking water service as voiced by the First Nations technical community of practice. The research explores success stories to identify success themes and factors to formulate a workable definition for policy-makers. Researchers interviewed sixteen technical practitioners in Ontario using a semi-structured approach. Data analysis revealed a definition of success that extends beyond the technical boundary to include professional growth, employment, local action and a facilitating policy environment. This comprehensive definition provides a basis for policy and program considerations to increase First Nations buy-in and foster a constructive environment for drinking water improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative policy studies face a number of methodological challenges where conceptualization of the object of comparison-policy output-is the most fundamental. On the basis of three common approaches of the study of policy output, we reconsider this widely applied concept and propose a refined measure as a function of both density (number of policy instruments) and intensity (content of policy instruments). We theoretically derive six policy-intensity measures (objectives, scope, integration, budget, implementation, and monitoring), which are used for weighting national policy instruments on an Index of Climate Policy Activity. The article presents an empirical application of this measurement approach. Focusing on national climate policy instruments in the energy production sector in Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we investigate changes in the countries' policy portfolios from 1998 to 2010. The article demonstrates that our Index of Climate Policy Activity provides a reliable and valid measurement for national policy output that can be applied for comparative analyses of policy output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an empirical case study of the institutional design process of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from December 2011 to May 2014. Powerful countries, corporations and banks have favoured a deepening of neoliberal environmental governance, while civil society actors have argued over retaining movement concepts, won small representational victories, while participating in a process that has subjected them to a deepened practise of advanced liberal governance. The process has thus far produced 'non-outcomes' that fail to meet hopes that the GCF could provide a significant scaling up and paradigm shift in global climate finance. However, civil society engagement appears to be, somewhat inadvertently, exposing the 'overflows', limits and contradictions inherent in advanced liberal governance. The impasse created has prompted alternative governmentalities to emerge, not least of spectacle and (non-)performativity, which may be generating an anti-politics in environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments worldwide are recognising ecosystem services as an approach to address sustainability challenges. Decision-makers need credible and legitimate measurements of ecosystem services to evaluate decisions for trade-offs to make wise choices. Managers lack these measurements because of a data gap linking ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services. The dominant method to address the data gap is benefit transfer using ecological data from one location to estimate ecosystem services at other locations with similar land cover. However, benefit transfer is only valid once the data gap is adequately resolved. Disciplinary frames separating ecology from economics and policy have resulted in confusion on concepts and methods preventing progress on the data gap. In this study, we present a 10-step approach to unify concepts, methods and data from the disparate disciplines to offer guidance on overcoming the data gap. We suggest: (1) estimate ecosystem characteristics using biophysical models, (2) identify final ecosystem services using endpoints and (3) connect them using ecological production functions to quantify biophysical trade-offs. The guidance is strategic for public policy because analysts need to be: (1) realistic when setting priorities, (2) attentive to timelines to acquire relevant data, given resources and (3) responsive to the needs of decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An evaluation of costs, rate, and environmental impacts of upgrading publically owned treatment works (POTWs) in the State of Utah to four levels of nutrient control allowed a variety of nutrient control policies to be assessed. Upgrade costs and rate impacts indicated that costs would be within a defined range for many POTWs, especially with design capacities greater than 40,000 m/day (~10 mgd). However, costs were significantly higher for some POTWs with lower design capacities, and nutrient upgrades to the most stringent levels would not be affordable for these communities, representing about 15 percent of the service population. The resulting equity issues can be addressed through hardship grants program and/or regulations based on a trading scheme. Analysis demonstrated that trading offers advantages, including cost efficiency and flexibility to accommodate further nutrient reductions and population growth, and greater ability to interface with urban and rural nonpoint nutrient control. Currently, the State of Utah is establishing technology-based nutrient limits that can be affordably implemented at all POTWs in phases. Additionally, a multi-faceted approach is being evaluated that will consider prioritized watershed-scale strategies, point and nonpoint sources of pollution, ecological and socioeconomic implications, and stakeholder participation in nutrient reduction programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relatively low level of concern about climate change among Americans has important implications for climate policy. While many studies have examined individual characteristics associated with climate change attitudes, fewer studies have considered the effects of environmental conditions on such attitudes. Here, we use two national samples of American adults to explore the impact of abnormal daily temperatures on levels of concern about climate change. We test the hypotheses that (1) abnormally warm temperatures, and (2) both abnormally warm and abnormally cool temperatures are associated with higher levels of concern. Using a generalized ordinal logit, we find that the quadratic form of deviation from mean temperature on the date of the survey is significantly associated with higher levels of concern, thus supporting the second hypothesis. We discuss several theoretical frameworks that may explain this result including availability bias, mental models, and implicit stimuli, and the implications for climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the beliefs and framing strategies of interest groups during a period of policy change and the factors explaining policy change. We develop propositions to explore questions concerning policy change primarily from the advocacy coalition framework as well as from other theorie. The propositions are tested by examining the promulgation of a Colorado regulation requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Using coded data of documents published by organizations involved in the rulemaking process, we find divergence between industry and environmental groups on their beliefs concerning hydraulic fracturing, as well as their portraying themselves and each other as heroes, victims, and villains, but some convergence on their more specific beliefs concerning disclosure of chemicals. Interviews point to the importance of policy entrepreneurs, timing, a negotiated agreement, and learning for explaining policy change. The findings provide both theoretical and methodological insights into how and why policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropolitan smog alerts are prominent public information campaigns designed to enhance public health and to curb driving and other emissions. Unlike many other voluntary information-based environmental policies, air quality alerts target household behavior via forecast information about ambient concentrations rather than firm or product characteristics. This paper explores behaviors with high emissions (driving) and with high exposure (outdoor recreation) and underscores the difference between altruistic and risk aversion motivations. Behavioral impacts are identified using the threshold nature of daily air quality forecasts. A regression discontinuity (RD) design finds elderly users and exercisers tend to curtail their use of a major park following smog alerts. The RD design also reveals that households do not drive less on smog alert days. Juxtaposing high emissions behavior with high exposure behavior in the same study highlights how public forecast information may better trigger some responses and struggle to trigger others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008 New Zealand ( NZ) changed from a Labour-led to a National-led government, and this resulted in a shift to government's carbon emission mitigation strategy, including the abandonment of the Communities for Climate Protection ( CCP) and the Carbon Neutral Public Service ( CNPS) programs. Using deLeon's seminal model for program termination, the objective of this research is to determine why NZ's newly elected government discontinued these initiatives. This empirical research is investigative and probing, and comprises a series of semi-structured interviews with senior managers responsible for the delivery of the respective program within their organization. The architects of each program are also investigated. In the end, this study finds that while economic constraints and programmatic inefficiencies may have played a contributing role, political ideology is the primary rationale for the termination of the CNPS and the CCP-NZ programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government has committed itself to releasing a 'policy framework' for the Arctic in 2013. This decision was taken in response to the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry undertaken by the Environmental Audit Committee in 2012. The timing is significant, coming amid broader debates about whether the UK needs an Arctic Strategy. The Government insists that a 'policy framework' is not the same as a 'strategy', yet the decision to prepare such a document still signals a departure from the status quo. This commentary considers what the Government means by a 'policy framework', how this differs from a 'strategy', and why such a document is needed now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]